Файл: THE_BRITISH_ISLES_COUNTRIES_PEOPLE_TRADITIONS.doc

Cambridgeshire is largely famous for the second oldest university in England. The oldest colleges of Cambridge University are Peterhouse and Clare. One of the newest colleges is Robinson college, opened by the Queen in 1977. The most beautiful building in Cambridge is King’s College Chapel with the alter piece painted by Rubens. Isaac Newton worked in Cambridge, Oliver Cromwell and John Milton studied there.

Bedfordshire has one of wonderful British historical houses. Hatfield House was built in the place where Princess Elisabeth was informed about the death of her half-sister Mary I. The Hatfield House is a monument to Jacobean architecture and design at its finest.

Lancashire is a county of great variety, incorporating moorlands and mountains, industrial towns, little villages and agricultural plains. Most of all, however, it is famed for its coastline where lies that Mecca of holidaymakers, Blackpool. Here visitors can find every conceivable form of entertainment and over all this activity looms the great tower, 518 feet tall. From September to October the tower, promenade and beach are spectacularly illuminated. Lancashire Industries include cotton, iron, steel, cars. The main town is Lancaster. It has a Roman Catholic cathedral and a university.

Warwickshire is linked with the name of William Shakespeare. His birthplace, Stratford-upon-Avon, attract thousands of visitors. Shakespeare is buried in Holy Trinity Church. There is the Royal Shakespeare Theatre where a festival of Shakespeare’s plays is held every year. Another famous town of the county is Warwick, which is famous for its impressive castle the home of the Earls of Warwick, some of whom actively participated in the Wars of the Roses. In the town of Rugby the famous game was born in 1823 in the famous public school.

Nottinghamshire is most often associated with Sherwood Forest and the legendary Robin Hood. Another literary link is with the best novel by D.H. Lawrence “Sons and Lovers”. The town of Nottingham is dominated by its castle built by William the Conqueror. The castle is also connected with the Civil War: Charles I raised his standard there in 1642 and later in 1655 the castle was destroyed by O. Cromwell’s supporters. The castle was restored in 1875.

Staffordshire is famous for its pottery. North Staffordshire is frequently called “The Potteries”. The main city of the Potteries is Stoke-on-Trent. The most famous pottery is the so called Wedgwood pottery named after Josiah Wedgwood who created a special kind of porcelain in the 18^th century. It is blue, green or black with a raised design in white.

Shropshire is situated on the Welsh border. This county can boast the first iron bridge in the world. The bridge was built across the Severn in 1778. It is still used by pedestrians.

Cumbria or the Lake District. Thousands of people flock to the area every year for the scenery. The bright sails of yachts speckle the waters of Ullswater and Windermere, the largest lake in England. There are fifteen lakes, including Derwentwater, Grasmere, which nestle beneath dramatic mountain slopes. The hills surrounding the lakes are perfect walking country and hikers with muddy boots, plastic anoraks and large rucksacks are a common sight along the footpaths. The lovely scenery of this place attracted many famous English writers: among them the ‘Lake Poets’ William Wordsworth, born in Cockermouth, Southey and Samuel Tailor Coleridge, the writer Beatrix Potter who wrote stories for young children.

Scafell Pike is the highest mountain in England.

No greater contrast could be imagined than that between the noisy bustle of Blackpool and the solitude and tranquillity of the adjoining countryside. Some of Cumbria’s most impressive scenery can be found around the Langdale Pikes. These two craggy peaks tower above the two valleys of Great and Little Langdale. Little Langdale is the starting point of the Wrynose Pass, a steep mountain road leading to the even steeper Hardknott Pass, which is notorious for its sharp bends and gradients of 1 in 3. The remains of a Roman castle stand by this pass.

Merseyside (parts of Lancashire and Cheshire).

Liverpool is the second largest port in England. Linen industry, silk, mixed clothes, knitwear, rubber, rainwear, engineering, sugar refining are the industries developing here.

The Anglican Cathedral (1978) built in red stone is the biggest in Britain. There is the Beatle Centre in Seal Street, the Walker Art Gallery, Merseyside County Museum (time keeping, maritime). The former prosperity of Liverpool was built on the docks and international trade: initially that was the triangular trade of slaves to America, sugar and cotton to England and manufactured goods to Africa. Later Liverpool became the leading port for goods and people to and from America. In the second half of the 20^th century the city was struck by economic decline. It receives funds from the EU as one of the poorest parts of Europe. Nevertheless Liverpudlians love their city, are proud of its history and believe in its future.

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Greater Manchester (part of Lancashire). It is an industrial city. Manufacture of cotton, aircraft, chemicals are produced in Manchester. It is the birthplace of the famous quality newspaper “Guardian”(1821). There are 5 art galleries, the Gallery of English Costume, the Museum of Science and Industry, much of it devoted to transport. Liverpool-Manchester line was one of the first railways built by G. Stephenson. Henry Royce built his first car here in 1904. Manchester United is among the richest football clubs in the world. The Asian area of Manchester offers eating out experience in the Curry Mile. Manchester has the biggest Chinatown in Europe. Every year there is a Dragon-Boat Festival on the Manchester Ship Canal.

West Yorkshire is connected with Brontë sisters (Emily and Charlotte). Bradford is one of the world’s centres of woollen industry. In Leeds manufacture of textiles is now less important than other industries: manufacture of locomotives, clothes, rails, textile machinery, aircraft, electrical equipment, footwear.

There is Leeds University, several theatres, the only music hall in the county. The musical festivals are famous.

South Yorkshire stretches from the Pennines to the river Don. Sheffield is an important steel centre. Mary, Queen of Scots spent 14 years in Sheffield Castle.

North Yorkshire. York was the capital of Roman Britain, then the Anglo-Saxon capital of Northumbria. Today it is the seat of an archbishopric. York Minster is famous for its stained glass. There is the National Railway Museum, the Yorkshire (Roman) Museum and the Jorvik Viking Centre (Vikings called York Jorvik)

Whitby is a fishing port. Captain Cook lived here.

Humberside (part of Lincolnshire, Yorkshire).

Hull is the third greatest port. There is the Town Docks Museum with a plaque marking the spot from which Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe set sail. Beverley is a racing town. Grimsby is a fishing port.

Cleveland. There are several industrial towns: Bellingham (chemical industry), Middlesborough (coal, iron, steel), Stockton-on-Tees (shipbuilding, engineering).

Tyne and Wear is called by the name of the rivers.

The main town is Newcastle-upon-Tyne, a big commercial centre. It began as a fort at the end of Hadrian’s Wall. The Normans built a castle there. Another important town is Durham [´d^rэm] with an old castle and an old Norman cathedral (1093). Industrial products are: iron, steel, glass, chemicals.

Northumberland. The main town is Berwick on the river Tweed. There are moors in the centre and mountains in the North-West. There is the famous Hadrian’s Wall in Northumbria. It was built when England was part of the Roman Empire to protect England from Scots and Picts who lived on the territory of Scotland. The wall was built from shore to shore. It is one of the tourist attractions now. Bamburgh Castle was one of the principal strongholds of the Anglo-Saxon kings of Northumbria. The castle that stands today was built in the 12^th century. Now it houses an interesting museum of armour and a fine collection of porcelain and tapestries.

Scotland

BASIC FACTS:

National flag of Scotland

• The patron saint of Scotland: St. Andrew.

• St Andrew’s Day: November,30, the Scottish national day.

• The national musical instrument: Bagpipes.

• The symbol of Scotland: Thistle.

• The capital of Scotland: Edinburgh.

• The largest lake in Scotland: Loch Lomond.

• The national flag of Scotland: St. Andrew’s cross.

• Ben means a mountain; glen means a valley; loch means a lake.

• The oldest Scottish university: University of St Andrews.

• Kilt made of tartan is part of traditional Highland Dress.

• In 1603 James VI of Scotland became the first Stuart king in England. In England he was James I. The official union of Scotland with England was signed in 1707.

Edinburgh

Task 3. Read the text below and find all the described places on the maps. While reading continue the table of task 2.

On the map Scotland resembles an uncompleted jigsaw puzzle, a puzzle whose northernmost pieces overlap the latitude of Greenland and the southernmost the latitude of Omsk.

The country is divided broadly into Highlands, a group of massifs, moors, ravines and torrents, and Lowlands, which are not in fact low but are mainly a series of smooth hills and pastures intersected by river valleys and belts of manufacturing towns. There are a lot of beautiful lakes (lochs), picturesque vallies (glens) and magnificent peaks (bens) On the eastern seaboard, cliffs and headlands stand guard over river estuaries and angular bays. The West Coast is split into ragged promontories and inland seas (sea lochs), which overlook a panorama of 700 islands. Three distinct groups of islands, Orkney and Shetland in the North and the Inner and Outer Hebrides in the North-West, are rich in Norse memories (Viking culture). The land has two natural, geological divisions: the narrow neck of land, only 45 km (28 miles) from sea to sea, between the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Clyde, and the 93-km (58 mile) corridor between Inverness and Fort William. The people who live in Scotland originate from ancient Celts.

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Lothian region is the most cosmopolitan of Scottish regions, partly because it was once part of Anglo-Saxon Northumbria (Lothian suggests Lud, a semi-mythical British king whose name crops up in several Saxon place-names). Its port of Leith has historical links with the continent of Europe. The capital of Scotland, Edinburgh, is situated in this region. It became the capital of Scotland in the 15^th century. Edinburgh has manufacturing concerns, based on rubber, milling, printing and brewing. Edinburgh is also famous for the annual Festival of Music and Drama during which the colourful military parade (the Tattoo) takes place near Edinburgh Castle. Edinburgh Castle sits upon a rocky core of extinct volcano, which rises 133 metres above sea level. There has been a fortress here for around 1.400 years.

Queen Margaret, the English wife of King Malcolm III, spurred Edinburgh’s development in the 11^th century. The crude stronghold was converted into a royal castle. Queen Margaret died here in 1093. Her youngest son David, crowned Scotland’s next king, dedicated a chapel – St Margaret’s – to his mother’s memory. It is Edinburgh’s oldest surviving building.

For centuries, Edinburgh Castle has been the symbolic and strategic prize in the battles between Scotland and England. It was razed to the ground in 1313 and began to evolve later that century into the form we see today.

The castle approach features esplanade, a parade ground built in 1753, where every year the Military Tattoo is held during Edinburgh’s summer Festival. The ornamental castle gatehouse was built in 1887. Surmounted by the Royal Arms of Scotland, it is flanked by statues of Scottish heroes, Robert the Bruce and William Wallace.

Crowning Castle Rock are the main castle buildings: a palace occupies three sides of a courtyard known as Crown Square and the Scottish National War Memorial the fourth. The palace was built in the 14^th century. It contains the tiny bedchamber where Mary Queen of Scots gave birth to James I of England, uniting the two warring countries. The Great Hall dates from the early 16^th century and was the meeting place of Scottish Parliaments until 1640. It was built by King James IV as a banqueting hall as a setting for ceremonial occasions. Restored in the 19^th century, the hall features displays of arms and armour and a notable hammer-beam roof. Below the Great Hall are the vaults, now known as the French prisons. They were used in the 18^th and 19^th centuries to incarcerate French prisons of war.

From the Castle’s battlements salutes are still fired by cannon to mark special occasions. Every day (except Sunday) a gun is fired at one o’clock as a time check. Scots have a reputation of mean people, and there is a joke that they fire at one, not at twelve for the sake of economy.

The Royal residence in Edinburgh is Holyroodhouse.

Moments of history spring to life in the 13^th-15^th centuries castles of the Lothian shore, among them Blackness, Tantallon and Dunbar

The Borders region is to the North of England. There are medieval abbeys and castles. The bridge of Lammermoor reminds of the sad story, on which Donizetti’s opera ‘Lucia di Lammermoor’ is based. Lucia loved a poor man called Edgar but her brother was against their marriage. He persuaded Lucia that Edgar left her and she agreed to marry her brother’s rich friend. Then Edgar returned to Scotland. Lucia was in despair. She killed her husband and herself. Another legend of the Borders is that Merlin, the magician, who brought up King Arthur, is buried at the root of a thorn tree in a meadow at Drumelzier. As for the principal towns, they are Galashiels, Hawick, Melrose, Jedburgh and others. The Borders are associated with Sir Walter Scott who lived here and described this region in his novels. The river Tweed is the main river in this region. W. Scott built his house, Abbotsford, beside the river Tweed in 1817. Now there is a museum in this house, where you can see W. Scott’s desk, his chair, his books and pictures. He died in the house in 1832.

Dumfries and Galloway region partakes of the character of both Scotland and England. Dumfries town does not lack the literary associations – Robert Burns died and was buried there in 1796. Hugh Mac Diarmid (1892-1978), the only poet of international stature Scotland has produced this century, was born not far away. J.M. Barrie, the author of Peter Pan, went to school at Dumfries Academy. At Dundrennan, Mary Queen of Scots is said to have passed her last night in Scotland (1568) before her weary years of imprisonment in England.

Strathclyde. Glasgow, the biggest city in Scotland is situated in this region. Together with the shipyard towns and manufacturing conurbations up and down the Clyde, Glasgow still accounts for half of Scotland’s population. Glasgow sprawls over the middle belt of a region of mountains west out of Glasgow to sea lochs. The Clyde is an astonishing river, considering the vast ships, which have been launched there. A short distance upriver lies the shipyard, which led the world technologically from the time James Watt of Greenock developed the steam engine. Glaswegians are proud of their city. It suffered a severe decline in the past. First it lost the tobacco trade in the 18^th century, then the cotton trade in the 19^th century. Shipbuilding also declined. But now Glasgow is reviving. It has a lively tourist industry of two million tourists per year. Strathclyde is associated with Robert Burns. Now fully restored to its original state, Burns Cottage forms the heart of Burns National Heritage Park - a unique encounter with Scotland's most exceptional man. Set among the delightful scenery of historic Alloway, Burns National Heritage Park is an unmatched opportunity to experience Scotland's National Poet. You can view Robert Burns' beloved Ayrshire countryside from the roof of Burns Monument and experience the humour and excitement of Robert Burns best-loved tale in the Tam O'Shanter Experience. Near Blackwaterfoot there is King’s Cave, where Robert the Bruce is said to have hidden before gaining the throne of Scotland. Rob Roy, or Robert MacGregor, the romantic hero of Walter Scott’s novel of the same name, lived in Strathclyde. The real Rob Roy was the leader of a wild gang that terrorized the district around Loch Lomond. There is Rob Roy’s Cave near Inversnaid, which was used by the gang as a hideout and a meeting place. Rob Roy MacGregor died in 1734 and is buried in Balquhidder churchyard.

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As for the Central region, the forts set up by the Roman general Agricola about AD 80, and the Antonine wall which connected them 60 years later, are little more than a few dots on a modern map. The Forth-Clyde belt was a cradle of industry, a hotbed of that Scottish mechanical genius to which engineering science is so much indebted. In 1790 Patrick Miller demonstrated a prototype paddle-steamer and in 1818 Sir John Robinson’s Vulcan, the first all-iron ship, took the water. Iron foundries on the Carron river built heavy guns for Nelson’s warship. One of the most important towns here is Stirling, where many Scottish kings lived in the local castle.

Central region is where Highlands touch Lowlands in clear juxtaposition. At one moment road and railway are gliding parallel across flat meadows; at the next, one is going past crags and canyons where silver birches precariously hang and cascade of bubbling torrents throw up their spray.

Tayside region covers the Tay from source to mouth, and much more Sir Walter Scott used the legends and landscapes of the region in several novels, notable Waverley, The Fair Maid of Perth and The Abbot. The latter describes the escape of Mary Queen of Scots form her island prison on Loch Leven. Perth used to be the capital of Scotland in the 12^th – 15^th centuries. A few miles away from Perth the ancient coronation place of the kings is situated. It is called Scone [sku:n]. At Scone, thirty four Scottish kings, including Robert the Bruce, were crowned upon the Stone of Destiny. The coronation stone, or the Stone of Destiny, was taken away to England by the English king Edward I in the 13^th century. The stone of Scone was put under the coronation chair in Westminster Abbey and it was only recently returned back to Scotland.

In a field near Perth, the Scots king Kenneth escaped catastrophe on a dark night when a yell from an invader who trod on a thistle gave early warning of a surprise Danish attack. Legend says that after this event the thistle was adopted as Scotland’s national flower.

The region claims the oldest tree in the world, at the foot of Glen Lyon. Under it, or beside it the wife of a Roman centurion gave birth to the boy who became Pontius Pilate. Tayside is also associated with W. Shakespeare’s play ‘Macbeth’. Dunsinane, Tayside was the traditional seat of the Scottish kings, and Shakespeare’s witches prophesied that Macbeth would not be defeated until Birnham Wood should come to Dunsinane Hill. The prophecy was fulfilled when Macduff’s army concealed themselves with branches taken from Birnham Wood and then marched to Dunsinane.

The name Grampian developed from Graupius, which was the hillside where the Roman general Agricola defeated the Pictish tribes in AD 84. This was the greatest battle, in point of numbers involved, ever fought on British soil The Highland-man, so heavily romanticized, remained for more than a hundred years afterwards untouched by social progress. Ignorance, filial obedience to the clan chief and a capacity for enduring hardship were his characteristics. Balmoral castle is one of the Royal residences in Scotland. Aberdeen is the town connected with oil and gas industry. The British found the first oil under their part of the North Sea in 1969. They first took oil in 1975. They also bring gas from the North Sea since 1970.Aberdeen has a big harbour. Ships come to Aberdeen from Northern Europe.

Fife is famous for an ancient town St. Andrews. St Andrews is home of the oldest Scottish University founded in 1411 and the oldest golf club, which is called the Royal and Ancient Golf Club. People played a sort of golf in Scotland already in the 15^th century. In the town of Dunfermline several Scottish kings including Robert Bruce are buried.

Highland region. Despite its harsh weather, the Highland region offers many popular outdoor pursuits like hunting, fishing, climbing, curling. Highland games is a very popular sports event. The main town of Highland region is Inverness. Not far from it is the famous Loch Ness. Scotland is famous for its Highland Whisky, which means “Water of life” in Gaelic.

Northern Ireland

BASIC FACTS:

National flag of Northern Ireland

• The patron saint of Ireland: St Patrick.

• St Patrick’s Day : March,17, the Irish national day.

• Ulster: the other name of Northern Ireland.

• The symbol of Ireland: Shamrock.

• The Irish national flag: St. Patrick’s Cross.

• The capital of Northern Ireland: Belfast.

• In 1922 the Irish Parliament accepted the Anglo – Irish treaty for the foundation of an Irish Free State excluding the six counties of Northern Ireland.

Task 4. Read the text and make a quiz on Northern Ireland. Continue the table of task2.

About half of the 1.7 million people in Northern Ireland are settled in the eastern coastal region, the centre of which is the capital, Belfast. Northern Ireland is at its nearest point only 21km (13 miles) from Scotland. It has a 488-km (303-mile) border with the Irish Republic. Following negotiations lasting for over two years, a comprehensive agreement on a political settlement for Northern Ireland – the Good Friday Agreement - was reached in April 1998. A referendum held the following month endorsed the Agreement by 71.1 % to 28.8 %. Elections to a new Northern Ireland Assembly took place on 25 June 1998 and legislation to implement the whole settlement is worked out by Parliament. There have been attempts to stop hostilities and bloodshed in Ulster caused by religious, ethnic and social differences. According to the 1991 Census, 50.6% of the people regarded themselves as Protestants and 38.4% as Roman Catholics. Most of the Protestants are descendants of Scots or English settlers who crossed to northeastern Ireland; they are British by culture and have traditionally been committed to remaining part of the UK. The roman Catholic population is mainly Irish by culture and history, and many are nationalists in political aspiration, favouring union with the Irish Republic. Northern Ireland has a younger population with proportionately more children and fewer pensioners than any other region in the UK.

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Ulster is traditionally divided into 6 counties: Antrim, Londonderry, Armagh [‘a:ma:], Down, Tyrone [tir’oun] and Fermanagh [fem’ana]. Antrim includes Belfast, the capital of Ulster. The most famous places in Belfast are: City Hall, Grand Opera House, Linehall Library, Queen’s University and Ulster Museum. In the north of Antrim there is Giant’s Causeway. This is an astonishing assembly of more than 40,000 basalt columns. Antrim is also a quiet market town famous for its castle and a typical medieval Irish round tower. The new administrative division also includes the districts of Moyle, Ballymoney, Ballymena, Larne, Newtownabbey, Carrickfergus. The distillery at Bushmills, a small town in the north, claims the oldest whiskey-making licence (1608). Irish wiskey is distilled three times.

Londonderry includes Lough Neagh [nei] and it is in this county that the famous Irish linen is produced. The city of Londonderry is a large port where you can see transatlantic ships. The city’s growth was financed by London guilds, which in 1614 began creating the last walled city in Europe, naming it Londonderry. "Londonderry" is derived from the first part of the Irish name of a monastry at the site ("Doire Colmcille") and the city of origin of the settlers who founded the town ("London"). The anglicised version of "Doire" ("Derry") is often used on its own. The extreme protestant organization, The Orange Order, is active in this city and in August they take part in an annual parade celebrating the victory of William of Orange over the Catholic army in 1689. Irish Catholics take this parade as a challenge, so usually there is violence on both sides. Londonderry is now divided into Limavady, Coleraine, Magherafelt, Cookstown.

Armagh is known as the Apple Orchard of Ireland because apples and other fruit are grown there. The town of Armagh played an important role in the spread of Christianity, so it is considered the historical ecclesiastic capital of Ireland. Armagh is known for its dignified Georgian architecture The Southern part of Armar and Down is now called Newry and Mourne. Armagh also includes Craigavon.

Down includes the town Downpatrick and some sea side resorts. The county also has the districts of Banbridge, Lisburn, Castlereagh, North Down. The Mountains of Mourne attract walkers by their chameleon qualities. One moment the granite is grey, the next pink. At the foothills of the Mournes is Newcastle, a resort with a fine, sandy beach.

Tyrone is a picturesque county with ruined castles and monasteries on the hills. Omagh is the main town in Tyrone. Tyrone is subdivided into Strabane, Omagh, Dungannon and Cookstown.

Fermanagh includes two large lakes: the Upper and the Lower Lough Erne.

This is one of potatoes growing counties. Enniskillen is the county town and a Protestant stronghold since Tudor times. It is built on an island between two channels of the river Erne as it flows from Upper to Lower Lough Erne. Enniskillen Castle dates from the 15^th century. Fermanagh is not subdivided into any unitary districts.

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